Honeybees are critical for the pollination of many crops, especially those that bloom early in the year when populations of natural pollinators are low. Beekeepers rent beehives to farmers for pollination services. Typically, a commercial beekeeper rents beehives to a farmer while crops such as pumpkins, apples, and almonds are in bloom. Beehives are placed in fields or orchards at a density to provide a sufficient number of bees to pollinate all of the blossoms. The pollination success is dependent on the activity of the bees. In rainy or cold weather the bees may not leave the beehive to forage for pollen and nectar, leading to poor pollination of the farmer's crop. Too few bees in the beehives, unhealthy bees, and bees with weak foraging instincts caused by inferior genetic characteristics can also lead to poor pollination performance.
Bees are also used to produce honey. Honey starts out as nectar that bees collect from local plants and flowers. The bees collect nectar by storing it in their honey stomachs and carrying the nectar in 40 mg loads back to the beehive. The foraging bees regurgitate the nectar and pass it to worker bees in the beehive. These bees then gradually transform the nectar into honey by evaporating most of the water from it. During a nectar flow, bees will typically store the honey above the brood nest, so a beekeeper places honey supers on top of the beehive for the bees to fill with nectar. When the nectar reaches a moisture content of about 17%, the bees will cap the cells with wax. The honey is then ready to be harvested by the beekeeper. Honey production is also dependent on the activity of the bees. Bad weather, unhealthy bees, and bees with poor foraging instincts can all lead to low honey yields.
Monitoring the health and activity of bees is a time consuming and difficult job for a beekeeper with many beehives. A beekeeper typically monitors the health and activity of a colony by observing the honeybees around the beehive and visually inspecting the beehive frames for quantities of brood, pollen and nectar, and presence of disease and pests. Based on data collected during the inspection, the beekeeper plans a course of action for the beehive such as feeding the bees, splitting a colony, installing a new queen, and medicating the colony. Frequent inspections are critical for detection and prevention of pests and diseases such as mites, viruses, and bacterial infections. Beehive inspection and maintenance are labor intensive and limit the number of beehives a beekeeper can maintain.
Further complicating the monitoring and maintenance of beehives for the beekeeper is the fact that groups of beehives are often placed in different locations. Depending on the pollen and nectar sources in a given area, there is a maximum number of beehives that can be placed in one apiary. Too many beehives placed in one apiary result in competition for scarce resources. A good rule of thumb is to have no more than 25-40 beehives in a permanent apiary.